The Federal Government on Tuesday said there was no hidden agenda pertaining to the water resources bill being considered in the National Assembly.
Some groups, including the Nigeria Labour Congress, have called for the bill to be rejected. Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, has also been quoted as saying the country will be doomed if the bill makes it into the law books.
But in a joint press conference on Tuesday in Abuja,
the Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed and the Minister of Water
Resources Engr. Suleiman Adamu, said many of those criticising the bill have
“not even bothered to
read its provisions, thus depending on second-hand information to
reach their conclusions. “Those who have read it have perhaps done so
perfunctorily.”
The Ministers said the bill was designed to provide “professional and efficient management of all surface and groundwater” for the use of Nigerians. “We also want to state that the Bill is for the good of the nation, and has no hidden agenda whatsoever,” the Ministers added in a statement read during the briefing.